If IHMSA was starting today...

[VirgilioHuseby]

This is a very interesting question. If we were creating the IHMSA game today, we would probably want to make it more accessible and appealing to a wider audience, including young shooters. One possible solution would be to introduce new categories that would be more appealing to young people and beginning shooters, perhaps with more accessible targets and shooting courses. Perhaps we would also change the rules of the game and the scoring criteria to make them clearer and more easily accessible. Another important aspect we could consider in creating a new version of the game is more modern and innovative technology that could make shooting more interesting and appealing. For example, we could include the use of virtual and augmented reality to create unique and interesting targets and shooting courses.

[35isit]

The biggest thing that hurt us was labor. When labor got too expensive or unable to find the volunteers had to do it. Consequently, the pace of the match slowed down and at some clubs you had to set your own targets. I'm sorry, we never asked anyone to set targets at Anderson County and "I" never expected to travel, pay good money and then be required to set targets. I have but didn't want to. So, with the hard work of David Bemis and Ron Dampier. The investment of a few thousand dollars we have a completely mechanized range. Those ranges that have been in existence for a long time that says they can't afford to do it; they couldn't afford not to do it.

I have a group of about 10 or 12 regular shooters. I stay in contact via email and text before every match.

The younger shooters are going to larger sponsored events. Their games are predicated on spray and pray. They know when they enter, they have a chance at a monetary award or some prize worth maybe a few dollars up to a few hundred. I'm not lobbying shooting for money by charging mandatory entry fees. I'm saying if we can find a equitable way to disburse prizes and donated cash at larger shoots i.e., Regionals, Nation Championships, ECC's or just a two- or three-day local match we should consider it. Whenever I talk to a prospective shooter, they always ask how much money I won.

Just a couple of my thoughts.

[USTCUD]

All this below is my opinion/experience so I am not saying I have the answers for all.

This is interesting in that there needs to be a healthy mix between hobby and competition. Oftentimes, those two are in conflict.

I now consider myself a hobbiest, not a competitor. I enjoy the guns, experimentation, sharing and observing new ideas with others, and setting personal goals for myself. I do not have a need to compete against others to meet those objectives.

Considering all of the disciplines, categories, and classes, there is not much left for direct “competition” at local matches. I would look at combining all local matches as a monthly “postal” match, and publishing that in the IHMSA newsletter. For example: “John Doe was the winner of BB Standing Class AA, for November with a score of 24 against 32 other entries.” This would be better than the local match report reading, “John Doe was the BB Standing Class AA winner with a 7. (He was the only shooter in AA).”

Some would say that those shooters were not shooting in the same conditions. Unless you run all like entries at the same match at the same time, you will seldom be shooting in the same conditions. Over the course of the same day there will usually be substantial changes in lighting, wind, visibility, mirage, rain and even snow. This is even more so at multi day championship matches.

Think of silhouette as a car show or a motorcycle rally. Not everyone who goes tries to win an award. They go to be among others who share their hobby.

Maybe the goal of IHMSA should be more about promoting the hobby of silhouette shooting, of which competition is only a small part.

Shooting at a range with no target setters (non IHMSA) I have no problem with swingers for score. With the cost of BB ammo, I plan on shooting only 20 round matches. (Again, I only compete against my goals, not against others)

As for some of my hobby-related goals: I want to shoot a 40x40 SB UAS score in a single 2 minute relay. (Done that).
I want to shoot a SB UAS 1/10 scale 40x40. (Wind).
I want to play around with small bore targets at 200 yards.

I like the idea of no artificial support and the varying distances in silhouette. This separates the sport from other accuracy endeavors. It is not a fast sport, and should not be.

Keep it fun. My favorite matches were shooting Field Pistol with a friend with 3” 45s. An annual tradition. Both of us achieved high scores of 22x40.

In summary, I suggest keeping the fun and fellowship in silhouette, and not focusing on COMPETITION. Under current rules and bylaws, IHMSA promotes itself only by competition.

[Ron284Win]

As Greg said the reset targets are a game changer. Reduces labor a tremendous amount. Especially if you can lock them down and only put swingers away. As a side note I really do enjoy shooting free standing. Been several suggestions that are very good posted. One I’m not sure of is the smaller targets. If we want to recruit new shooters we should t make it harder. Back many years ago I found out about the game from advertising for a seminar the day before a regular match. If everyone would do just a little to help it would go a long way.

[WA_SHTR+44M]

I have had my ups and downs during my first years of IHMSA just attending a match and dealing with work and family. Now retired and previously a few years to my retirement I was able to attend regular matches. Most recently I encouraged and enlisted my nephew to play the game with us (me) and the first thing that I decided was to get him the top end category entry UAS to start with. This was intentional as to encourage success with the scoped Big Bore category and take most if not all of the difficulty out of the game for him. It definitely worked after he posted a 38 score with my XP-100 7BR - My ammo and my settings and my spotting for him. His future entries were with the help of me finding and procuring him his own XP-100 and set up for him with his own style. I'm not saying that I'm the all mighty teacher however his success from that first entry led him to become a successful competitor and do back to back 40's with his XP-100 7MM-08.
All of this is not without the assistance from our small group of shooters - Bret, Jim, Steve, Joe, Ron, Richard, who also helped guide him with suggestions and load information during and after the matches. Without all of their assistance I feel as though my solo encouragement would have fell short and my "Young Apprentice" may have discontinued his continued shooting adventures.
So my point being is that if it's possible to start off these newbies and maybe get them hooked on knocking over the steel then lets try and guide them with the best of our toys so they will be successful and actually knock over the steel and not walk away from a match with a score of 6 targets hit out of 40. Nowadays there is no prize monies to be had just seems like the bragging rights are the goal and what better way to brag then telling your older Uncle that he shot a 40 and it only took him 2 months whereas it took you several years.
Coincidentally -- My very first match with my revolver back in 1996 I shot a 6x40 and initially I was somewhat bummed but to this day I have not waivered about my choices to keep on trying and keep on playing as long as I can and enjoy the game for my satisfaction and recreation. I wouldn't have made it this far without the help and assistance of the IHMSA family of shooters that I have met and made good friends with.

Steve 7771

[kerdunk]

For what it’s worth … I am a new IHMSA shooter (3 years) and here is why I like the sport:

1. Hit or miss scoring with immediate feedback.
2. Multiple categories to pick from (e.g. UAS, Smallbore, Big Bore, etc.).
3. Freestyle position - allows for creativity and innovation without investment.
4. The history associated with the sport.
5. The opportunity to travel to different ranges across the nation to compete.
6. Shooting a handgun at 200 yards.

Here is what I think are opportunities for improvement:

1. Clean up the categories as I previously posted. The rules are confusing.
2. Clean up the details/restrictions associated with the guns. The rules are confusing.
2. Red Dot sights on revolvers. It will help with shooter retention.
3. 5 sighters in 2 minutes at 4 distances. Too rushed.

[jmoore]

For what it’s worth … I am a new IHMSA shooter (3 years) and here is why I like the sport:

1. Hit or miss scoring with immediate feedback.
2. Multiple categories to pick from (e.g. UAS, Smallbore, Big Bore, etc.).
3. Freestyle position - allows for creativity and innovation without investment.
4. The history associated with the sport.
5. The opportunity to travel to different ranges across the nation to compete.
6. Shooting a handgun at 200 yards.

Here is what I think are opportunities for improvement:

1. Clean up the categories as I previously posted. The rules are confusing.
2. Clean up the details/restrictions associated with the guns. The rules are confusing.
2. Red Dot sights on revolvers. It will help with shooter retention.
3. 5 sighters in 2 minutes at 4 distances. Too rushed.

So far the only change for which I have enthusiasm is the improvement in the sighters, but I can't think of an easy way to change it. Especially challenging for such pistols as BFs and MOAs. Probably not a big deal with folk that have been running the same equipment and loads for years, but tough for those of use who are still "expanding horizons". Moreso BB than SP or FP. I know that it's often an issue for some others, especially the "sometimes" shooters.

[biednick]

Reading through many of the replies here, I think it's worth pointing out many popular shooting sports have similar issues but are still very popular.

PRS, 3 Gun, and similar matches are usually broken up into squads. You have an idea of how you're doing compared to the other people in your squad, but until scores are published you have no idea how you did compared to others. Sometimes scores will be available shortly after the last squad finishes shooting and there will be small trophies for the best shooters, but that's not always the case. I rarely know how I did until I get home in the evening.

IHMSA is cheap compared to other shooting sports. A brand new silhouette revolver from Freedom Arms runs about $3000, and they are commonly available used for significantly less. I paid $2000 for my 252 about 18 months ago. Talk to any moderately serious PRS competitor and they'll tell you they have 3 times that in their rifle and equipment. The ammo costs aren't unique to IHMSA either. 3 gun is cheaper for most shooters to get into since they usually have at least a couple usable guns already.

Benchrest and F class are still reasonably popular, even though they are very slow courses of fire. They have similar cost and scoring issues as the disciplines mentioned above.

The idea that new shooters are only attracted to spray and pray matches or matches with the chance of a payout it wrong. Benchrest and PRS are doing just fine, neither of which are spray and pray matches. Large matches, like regional and national finales, might have a payout or prize table. I've never shot a club match in any discipline with a payout and have only shot 1 with a prize table. Most have 30-40 shooters.

I can't say I have a solution that doesn't involve completely reformatting matches. The success of matches like HHC, WY-Shot, and ABMS show there's still interest in long range handgun shooting, but they use a completely different format. I do think simplifying the catagories and adding a true open catagory would help.

[aggshooter]

Great discussion!

Everyone here realizes there is not a "one size fits all" solution, right? While we can all agree that we should "do something" to (change the direction, interest new shooters, still keep all our current shooters happy) is a task that not everyone will agree with. So then the question becomes...will you support changes, will you give a fair trial period for an update to be fairly evaluated?
Although popular now, Practical Hunter was supposed to be a draw for shooters on the sidelines, but it was not well received initially and the various interpretations of it created controversy. I do think we should start changing to nearly all optics, we're approaching a time where new shooters are not interested in open sights and aging shooters are sometimes struggling with them. Peeps, and I shoot them a bit, can be challenging to set up due to various guns, sight radius, and aperture sizes. Scopes are pretty universal in the ease they can be added to any of our guns.

On a side note, I went out this week with a Browning 22 and 4x rifle scope and shot a practice round using five regular targets and five 1/5 scale at each distance. Regular targets were very do-able, the little ones took real focus and may not be for everyone. My take-away from it was the regular targets (with aid of spotter) served very well to tweak the scope immediately before shooting the little ones. The 4x scope was a bit lacking and the Browning trigger pull runs about two lbs. But the challenge was fun and I'm looking forward to trying it again.

[i26963]

Optics are a no-go for me. And no, I don’t have good eyes! But I have enough invested in shooting glasses than a good UL gun costs! I use regular iron sight,s for my Creedmoor guns, and peep sights on my standing guns. With the exception of FP, I shoot the same original 4 gun categories I did when I started.
Sooo, when IHMSA started, it was one of, if not the fastest growing shooting sport, and only 4 categories.
What do y’all think was the reason for that?
May be a bit off topic, but what first attracted you to IHMSA?
Melvin